Rustic and non-public camping?

We camped at paid campsites on our trip to Reno and on the way back. They were all crouded with RVs and people all over the place. It's really kind of a bummer and defeats the purpose of camping in the first place. We want to camp more, but want to find a place where we can do it without the crouds. Does anyone know how to go about finding these backwoods camping places?

I would just hike the back country and find a spot, but I'm not sure how to know the difference between public lands, open space, and other peoples' property. I know I could go to a state park or national forest, but how do I know I'm not going to get a fat ticket for making my own fire pit and having a campfire? Here in Colorado there are signs all over the place that say "No Open Fires" everywhere. So, what do I do?

 

contact the forestry department, they will gladly help, you may have to pay 5 bucks or so but its worth it. You will be a bit surprised at how many places we are guarenteed to be allowed to backcountry

 

iffin yer in denver an wanna get away,, id erecomend a good forest service topo,, an please note that the primative campsites marked are often just as crowded as the non,, but from there ya can generraly get guidance to quiet places,,..

forest service are great for recomandations as well,, but the phone pholks are just recepscionists,,

AFUCK I KNOEW MY SPELLIN SUX,,but trust me,, the caretakers of the forests,, the freds,, they the ones to talk to,, .. not the ole 9 to 5ver answerin the phones,,..

that an pholks in the "designated" primative campgrounds is a good place to start,,,

{WITH A FOREST SERVICE TOPO OF THE AREA!!}

good fortune in yer quest..
Luv~N~Lite

 

ASK THE LOCALS.

 

I would just hike the back country and find a spot, but I'm not sure how to know the difference between public lands, open space, and other peoples' property. I know I could go to a state park or national forest, but how do I know I'm not going to get a fat ticket for making my own fire pit and having a campfire? Here in Colorado there are signs all over the place that say "No Open Fires" everywhere. So, what do I do?

do it anyway.

 

I've backcountry camped all across the west in the national parks...you can get a pass for around 25 dollars that gives you unlimited access to all of them.....never even had anyone in sight at any of the sites we picked

 

did they ever check that pass?

 

They check it when you enter the park, then the backcountry pass is free. If you are just going to one park you would just pay maybe 8 dollars to get in...this one lasted for a year and we used it constantly....and its not per person, its for one whole carload, so with 4 of us it was basically free to camp all summer.

 

oh nice.. still blows my mind that we have to PAY to use nature.. fucking govt...

 

Contact the U.S. Forest Service office nearest to where you want to camp.
They have a list of campgrounds and what those campgrounds are like.
Some campgrounds don't allow motor homes or RV's, some allow tents only.
Some campgrounds have seperate sections for tent camping.
For real solitude, pick up a trail guide at the nearest sporting goods store and hit the trail.

 

you can camp anywhere for free in national forressts & national & state parks have cheap not very crowded camping.. but i always preffr the national forressts.. just go by the ranger stations, finda forresst service map & go wander the forresst service roads till u find a nice spot.. the only real rule is ya gotta move a few hundred feet every 2 weeks i think..

 

Not exactly.
In most area's of the Nat'l Forests you can only stay at campgrounds, and the amt. of time you can stay vary, and in some area's you must move at least 20 miles every 2 weeks.
And regulations concerning fires change according to local conditions.
In many parts of the U.S., Forest Service roads are gated; you can't get in unless you work for the Forest Service or own land there.
There is Bureau Of Land Management land that you can basically "squat" on for decades but you can't build non-movable structures and you don't own the land.
And these area's are marginal at best. There's a reason hardly anyone wants to stay there.

 

I'm shocked to hear of so much regulation out in the great west.


I would imagine that a nice place could be found for a 2/3 day event
without anyones say so.

Scout out a camping site on a day trip so that you will know your destination ahead of time.

It seems that having permission or a pass defeats the purpose of hobo camping.

 

If you go to a lake, you could take a canoe and paddle around till you find an island.
I just got back from a camping trip and that's exactly what we did, no one bothered us at all. Freeeeeee too.

 

depends on the lake,, many larger lakes,,corps of engineers lakes,, there is no camping allowed on islands..,, you can dock a house boat to one,,but no fires or primative camping..

 

im montana you have to move every 14 days, but you can just move to the next campsite, many states do reguire a state land use permit, but its cheap

 

You just buy that instead of the usual one night pass? I'm new to this, only done backcountry camping once (last week) and we had to buy the backcountry passes individually for each night (we did two nights). And this works for every state?

One wonders, though, if they ever really check these things. you could just get into the park off-road (sneak in, that is), and seems you could camp for free if you can avoid rangers and such.

 

Many places regulate entry for reasons other than money.
Like to lessen the impact people have in biologically sensitive area's, and to preserve them as wild area's.
I don't have a problem with it.